Central Michigan University Athletics
Postgame Notes
9/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
CMU Postgame Notes
September 29, 2007
CMU vs. Northern Illinois
CMU’s captains for Saturday’s game were Ike Brown, Red Keith and Eric Tunney.
CMU snapped a nine-game losing streak to Northern Illinois with Saturday’s victory.
The Chippewas are now 2-3 overall, matching last season’s five-game start. CMU is 2-0 in the MAC in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1985 and 1986.
CMU has won three straight Homecoming games.
The Chippewas have won six straight MAC games at home dating back to the 2005 season.
Justin Hoskins made his first start at CMU. His 40-yard touchdown run on CMU’s opening possession was the longest touchdown run of the season for CMU.
Hoskins finished with career highs in rushing attempts (14), yards (93) and rushing touchdowns (two).
Duane Brooks’ touchdown pass to Dan LeFevour was the first of Brooks’ career. LeFevour’s touchdown catch was the first of his career and second reception of his career.
Antonio Brown’s kickoff return for a touchdown was the first of his career. He is the first Chippewa to return a kickoff for a touchdown since Tim Brazzel returned the opening kickoff 79 yards for a score at Buffalo in 2006.
CMU scored 21 points in the first quarter, the second time this season it tallied 21 points in a quarter. The Chippewas also posted 21 points in the fourth quarter against Toledo.
True freshman receiver Taylor Bradley made his debut against NIU. He caught three passes for 51 yards. His first career catch was a 27-yard reception on CMU’s second possession.
CMU’s 35 first-half points were the most since the Chippewas scored 48 in the first half of 55-28 win at Buffalo in 2006.
Victor Doman collected his second career interception in the fourth quarter. Red Keith, Chaz West and Jonathan Lapsley also intercepted passes in the victory.
Dan LeFevour has thrown for 4,169 yards in his career. He is the seventh quarterback in school history to throw for at least 4,000 yards in his career.
Red Keith finished with 10 tackles, the 18th time in his career he has collected at least 10 tackles in a game.
Northern Illinois Postgame Notes
***Central Michigan snapped NIU’s nine-game winning streak against the Chippewas, which dated back to the 1998 season.
***Junior Matt Simon recorded the first 200-yard receiving day by an NIU receiver since 2005 (when Sam Hurd went for a school-record 266 receiving yards versus Central Michigan on Nov. 5, 2005) as he caught a career-best nine catches for 205 yards Saturday. The 200-yard game was just the sixth in NIU history. His nine catches are the most by a Huskie receiver since Britt Davis grabbed nine passes versus Eastern Michigan last season. Simon, who only had 20 catches for 314 yards a year ago, has surpassed those totals in just five games this year with 23 catches for 403 yards on the season to date.
***Dan Nicholson hooked up with Matt Simon for the fourth-longest touchdown pass in Northern Illinois history, a 92-yarder, in the first quarter. It was the longest career completion for Nicholson and reception by Simon. It was the longest pass play for the Huskies since Sept. 30, 2000 when Dan Urban connected with Justin McCareins for the school-record 99-yard TD toss.
***Sophomore tailback Justin Anderson posted his third straight 100-yard rushing day Saturday as he went for 157 yards on 28 carries. Over the last three weeks, Anderson has rushed for 492 yards on 91 carries to average 164 yards per game. However, after scoring a touchdown in each of NIU’s last three games, Anderson did not reach the end zone Saturday.
***Junior defensive end Larry English took over sole possession of third place on the Northern Illinois career sacks list. English, who collected his team-leading seventh sack of the season, now has 20 for his career to rank behind only Cary Caliendo’s 31 (1987-90) and Scott Kellar’s 23 (1982-84).
***When Central Michigan scored on a 90-yard kickoff return, it marked the first time an NIU opponent has scored on a kickoff return since Oct. 30, 2004 when Terry Moss of Ball State brought one back 94 yards in a game NIU eventually won, 38-31.
***NIU senior kicker Chris Nendick extended his consecutive games scoring streak to 42, every game of his Huskie career. He also hit his 50th career field goal in the game.
***Dan Nicholson passed for a season-high 293 yards Saturday and has now thrown a touchdown pass in eight of his 10 career starts. It was his single game yardage total since the 2005 Central Michigan game when Nicholson passes for 320 yards on 19-of-27 passing.
***Northern Illinois earned a season-best 521 yards on 88 offensive plays Saturday, the Huskies’ highest total since last year’s Ball State game when they totaled 610 yards. However, the Huskies were just 1-of-5 in the red zone on the game and committed a season-high six turnovers.
***Freshman receiver Landon Cox made his first career reception early in the third quarter.
***Back-up QB Ryan Morris saw his first action of the season in the fourth quarter, completing his first career pass (to Britt Davis) on his first play. Morris last saw action in the Poinsettia Bowl game versus TCU.
***Sophomore David Bryant made his debut at running back for the Huskies with a first-quarter carry. Bryant is the fifth tailback to run the ball for NIU this year.
***The Huskie defense pitched a shutout at the Chippewas in the second half, holding CMU scoreless, but the NIU offense was unable to get on the board, either and the game ended with the same score as the half.
